The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman – I had to read this book for a class I took at the university. I don’t read nonfiction to the extent I read fiction so this was a change of pace of me. The book talks about how to connect with your spouse by “speaking” his/her love language e.g. words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, etc…. It is good stuff and it serves as more of a reinforcement for making your marriage work and to be happy with your chosen spouse after the honeymoon phase of marriage subsides. It is really behavioral theory broken down and applied in a very common sense way. He does derive his work from biblical inspiration but that shouldn’t be a turn off for anybody because the book steers clear of religion for the most part and strictly talks about improving your marriage relationship. I recommend this book.
Of course, like most gurus, he has written other books along the same theme – The Five Love Languages for Children, The Five Love Languages for Teens, The Five Love Languages for People missing a a Left Toe…and so it goes.
What I liked: The common sense approach of the author. He breaks a complicated relationship design down to very simple concepts that lead to moments of startling clarity.
What I didn’t like: The book presents itself as a panacea for all marriages. One size fits all just isn’t reality but I see it more as just another tool in your toolbox – useful sometimes – not so much at other times.
Again using the color accent setting on the cannon hand held, I captured this photo. I really like the color accent feature, it gives your images a whole different feel.
Contagious by Scott Sigler is the second book in the series about an attempted alien invasion that uses biological means to spearhead an earthly invasion. I read the first book and thought it was terrific. This one is just as good, if not better. The ending left it open for another book in the series and I will be sure to read it.
What I liked: Continuous action with short chapters that really move. Character development is great and the story is fascinating. Sigler’s imagination tops just about any author of this genre I have read. I am a fan and will be sure to read the next one.
What I didn’t like: Lots of innocents die and the depiction of humans acting as hosts for alien parasites is rather grisly and gross – well that’s life and death in the business of an alien invasion. This is more of a personal bias because my imagination is too vivid to handle these realistic depictions. I see them happening in my dreams.
Here is a shot of some tundra grazing Elk along TrailRidge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. The camera was set to color accent so everything except the yellows was gray scaled down. I really like this photo. The accented yellows and the gray sky really make it.
Although I would like to take credit for this, the spiral spouse took this photo. Great shot Hon!
Dakota Blonde performs in and around the Denver area and we got to see and hear this folk trio perform when we were in Colorado. They were fantastic and it was one of the best things we did on this trip.
Members of the band met through their careers in music therapy where they worked with emotionally troubled children and adolescents. That is an unusual beginning for a musical group. Mary Huckins is the highly talented lead vocalist and the band’s namesake. Her voice is fresh, sweet and soothing and perfect for the folk music originals and covers they performed. She also plays the flute, piano, guitar and accordion. The other musicians were also terrific and the show was very intimate and personal.
I highly recommend this band. They have a few CD’s at their web site. I bought one at their concert and I plan on buying the rest. They also have a few tracks on Whole Wheat Radio.
We are back from vacation. Here is a shot of the mountains I took on top of the Ute Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park. I have more that I will share later this week. It was a great trip!
I love the mountains. I think I am in awe of the fact that they are unchanging. They were here thousands of years before I was alive and they will be here thousands of years after I am gone looking …pretty much the same.
I am making remarkable progress. However, I messed up the one large piece big time. I used the wrong side of the glass and it looks totally wrong and out of place. The color is too dark. This deer is supposed to be a fawn. It needs to be lighter with some white swirls. I have enough glass so I will probably recut, grind and foil a new piece. Everything was going so well…
I am making a stained glass deer for the princess. A project I promised here over 2 years ago. Here is my progress for the first day. I really enjoy glass art although I am really not that good. My projects always look OK until its time to solder the joints. I really need more practice with that step.
Another one from a SCAD student. I don’t think people realize the amount of work that goes into a stop-motion.
Created by Savannah College of Art and Design student Bang-yao Liu, the two-minute clip required three months of planning, four days of shooting and more than 6,000 Post-its.
